“It is the business of the very few to be independent; it is a privilege of the strong. And whoever attempts it, even with the best right, but without being OBLIGED to do so, proves that he is probably not only strong, but also daring beyond measure. He enters into a labyrinth, he multiplies a thousandfold the dangers which life in itself already brings with it; not the least of which is that no one can see how and where he loses his way, becomes isolated, and is torn piecemeal by some minotaur of conscience. Supposing such a one comes to grief, it is so far from the comprehension of men that they neither feel it, nor sympathize with it. And he cannot any longer go back! He cannot even go back again to the sympathy of men!”

wiki: Revolut Ltd is a digital banking alternative that includes a pre-paid debit card (MasterCard or VISA), currency exchange, cryptocurrency exchange (Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC)) and peer-to-peer payments. Revolut currently charges no fees for the majority of its services (but for a capped usage), and uses interbank exchange rates for its currency exchange on weekdays, and charge a markup from 0.5% to 1.5% on weekends. The Revolut App gives customers instant access to Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ether by exchanging to/from 25 fiat currencies. However, they remain in the app and cannot be moved to another cryptocurrency wallet. The London-based startup was founded by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko and currently supports spending and ATM withdrawals in 120 currencies and sending in 26 currencies directly from the mobile app. The company is based in Level39, a financial technology incubator in Canary Wharf, London.

Revolut launched to the public in July 2015 with the aim of “building a fair and frictionless platform to use and manage money around the world”[9] by removing hidden fees and offering interbank currency rates. Nikolay Storonsky, a former trader at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers,[10] said in an interview with Forbes that:

I thought of the business three years ago. I was travelling a lot and wasting hundreds of pounds on foreign transaction fees and exchange rate commissions which just didn’t feel right. As someone with a financial background I knew exactly the rates I should be getting. As a solution, I tried to find a multi-currency card and was later told it wasn’t possible. But I was determined to make it work. Alongside Vladyslav Yatsenko, former Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank developer, Storonsky set up Revolut and raised around $3.5 million. On 8 February 2017, Revolut launched UK current accounts, enabling its customers to get a personal IBAN.[12] In July 2017, Revolut started doing the same for personal EUR IBANs.

On 26 April 2018, Revolut announced that it had raised a further $250 million in a funding round led by Hong Kong-based DST Global, reaching a total valuation of $1.7 billion and thus becoming a unicorn.

Revolut’s CEO told Forbes that his stake is being diluted to 30%, which would give him a paper fortune worth $510m. “We’re going to launch Platinum cards — it’s a metallic card that allows you to get 1% cash back in cryptocurrencies and also provides you a concierge service.” The debit card will carry a fee like Revolut’s Premium card, which costs £6.99 a month and offers services such as travel insurance.